Western Parklands
Health Literacy
A Framework
Health literacy shapes a person’s physical, mental and social well-being and the safety and quality of health care.
There are two areas of health literacy that are important to consider:
- health literacy for an individual, and
- the health literacy environment which involves the various aspects of the health system including infrastructure, policies and relationships.
An individual’s health literacy, such as knowledge and skills needed to understand then apply health information can impact upon their ability to access the right services at the right time.
This may include comprehending food labels, diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption and how they impact health. Other examples are navigating services for psychosocial support, understanding medications, managing a health condition and preventative health including
screening for bowel cancers.
Lower rates of health literacy can result in:
- higher rates of hospitalisation and preventable hospitalisations,
- readmission rates and emergency care use,
- premature death among older people, and
- decreased ability to seek appropriate, timely treatment and communicate health issues.
The Framework
The Western Sydney Health Alliance has adopted the HeLLO Tas! Health Literacy Framework as best practice for the Western Parkland City.
The HeLLO Tas! Toolkit was developed by the Tasmanian Council of Social Services and is evidenced based building upon on the ‘Six dimensions of a health literate organisation’, developed by the New Zealand Ministry of Health.
This toolkit will equip organisations with the tools required to become a health literate organisation, thereby enabling people to understand information, navigate their way through health and community systems and get the services they need.
The Health Literacy Framework aims to increase access to health and wellbeing services by improving health literacy practices and capabilities in the Western City Parklands